I’m sick. So I should have spent the weekend in bed. But instead of resting and downing chicken noodle soup, I thought it would be a much better idea to stand in line for 3-1/2 hours in the blazing desert sun, waiting in line with hundreds of other women at the Brighton Collectibles Anniversary Sale in Cabazon.

Like cattle, we were herded into the shade and given small portions of water at regular intervals so we wouldn’t pass out. Wild with anticipation about the jewelry and purse bargains we would likely encounter when we were allowed into the showroom, we chatted like over-sugared kindergartners waiting for recess. And when the red velvet ropes were finally lifted and we were ushered into Handbag Mecca, we clamored for the right to exchange cold, hard cash for baubles and bags. And the reason we did it all was because of Buzz.

Not some new caffeine-laden soda or alcoholic beverage, buzz is the stuff that you, as a business owner or manager, should strive to generate about your product or service. At Brighton, the buzz about the big sale began over a year ago, with distribution of a punch-card, which was given to every customer who made a purchase at the outlet store. Sales associates used the cards to convince existing buyers to anticipate and even invest in the sale by promising extra rewards for frequent buyers.

Eager to do my part to help the struggling local economy, I shared the news with my aunt and we made plans to attend. And we weren’t alone. On sale day, we met women who had flown in from Missouri, Nevada and Arizona because news of the sale had spread like dandelion spores on a breezy summer day. And though the Brighton marketing campaign included corporate-sponsored postcards and radio spots, buzz about the sale was organic. In other words, the message was carried by the people who cared about it. The most successful marketing messages always are.

So how can you get people buzzing about your product or service?

For Free—

Word-of-Mouth Marketing is the easiest way to get people to buy your product or donate to your non-profit organization. If you’re passionate about what you do, you are already your own best brand-evangelist. But if you don’t believe in what you’re trying to sell, then it’s probably time to look for something else that you can enthusiastically endorse. The most important thing to remember about word-of-mouth marketing is that the motivation for sharing has to be your desire to help the people you are pitching. If you’re disingenuous, it will show. So make sure you don’t come off like a carnival barker.

On a Limited Budget—

The first order of business for building buzz is to come up with something that is genuinely worthy of attention. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve met with clients who have asked me to write press releases that have no content. Putting your business hours or menu into a press release template won’t make the information newsworthy.

If you want people to take notice, host or sponsor an open house, anniversary sale or trade show, allowing plenty of lead-time so your campaign can gain momentum. Use social media websites like Twitter and Facebook to start the groundswell. Then wait for folks in your target market to spread the word.

The Sky’s the Limit—

Supplement your electronic campaign with printed materials such as brochures, postcards, direct-mail pieces, ads and rewards program. These days, you can’t buy a stick of gum without being asked to apply for a customer loyalty card. Technology has made it easy to track spending patterns and preferences and communicate directly with specific segments of your target market. So take advantage of the data.

Also, don’t forget to partner with businesses whose targets overlap with your own. The approach will help you and fellow vendors as well as end-users. This weekend, for example, I was given a 20% discount on a pretzel at Aunt Annie’s when I presented my Brighton receipt. The strategy drastically improved foot-traffic at the snack shop. I enjoyed chewing on my spongy pretzel like a cow with her cud. But I think my body would have preferred chicken soup.

When our daughters were young, we made sure our home was childproof. We plugged the outlets with plastic covers, latched cabinets and bundled electrical cords. We placed a menacing plastic gate at the top of the stairs which pinched our fingers when we opened it and tripped us when we tried to step over it.

As the girls grew, baby-proofing became less necessary. Seventeen-year-old Lauren hardly ever tries to lick the outlets. Thirteen-year-old Kaitlin no longer lives to pull pots & pans out of cupboards so she can play with them on the kitchen floor. And 20-year-old Brianna is busy baby-proofing her own house for our 10-month-old granddaughter, Avery.

When they visit, I realize that our home is no longer child safe. An expert crawler, Avery heads straight for full trash cans, fireplace tools and dog toys. So I spend a lot of time trying to redirect traffic. I dissuade her from sucking on splintery kindling, heavy ceramic coasters and prickly decorative pine cones by making it easy for her to find more suitable targets. In other words, I optimize my granddaughter’s search.

We do a similar thing for clients of Mountain Marketing Group. By optimizing their websites, we help dictate Internet traffic patterns.

Wikipedia defines Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines via “natural” or unpaid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results as opposed to search engine marketing (SEM) which deals with paid inclusion. Typically, the earlier (or higher) a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine.

In other words, if you want potential customers or donors to spend time on your website, you need to make it easy for them to find it. The best way to do this is to find a way to get your site to return top results in the top three search engines, Google, Yahoo and Bing. Internet Bots, also known as Web Crawlers or Spiders (A frustrated science fiction writer must have coined these terms), continuously monitor Internet content to match it with search entries. Several SEO strategies can help land you at the top of the list.

For Free—

If you want to boost traffic to your website, make sure you include plenty of backlinks, which are inbound links coming from other relevant websites back to your own. Early on, link farmers artificially drove search engine traffic by creating worthless links to unrelated sites. Since Internet robots now recognize, disqualify and even ban sites that link like this, the best way to create legitimate backlinks is to:

Comment on Forums and Blogs. But shy away from software that generates links. Google is very much aware of spamming techniques like these. If they catch you using them, you run the risk of being de-indexed.

Provide RSS Feeds to websites that interest you. (When your RSS feed gets published by the other site, you will get a legitimate inbound link to your site.)

On a Limited Budget—

One cost-effective way to improve SEO is to use keyword research tools to discover untapped market niches, get inspiration for new products and create compelling content that distinguishes your site from the pack. Once you find out what your target market is looking for, be sure to include it on your website…not just in tags, to get traffic to your site, but in rich, valuable content.

This might sound like common sense, but you might be surprised at the search engine tactics some desperate people try. If your product is lemonade, don’t add “USA Women’s Hockey,” to your website even if it is the hottest Google search term (as of 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 14, 2010). Deliver what your keywords promise.

The Sky’s the Limit—

Keep the content fresh. If the information on your site is stagnant, you will return lower results than if you change the copy and images on a regular basis.

The easiest way to do this is to hire someone to build a customized Content Management System (CMS) website, which is simple to add to, edit and manage. Keeping content dynamic using a CMS site without HTML knowledge is straightforward because CMS sites convert HTML programming code into WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), which may not be easy enough for a baby to configure. But, take it from me. If a doting grandmother can handle it, so could you.